According to a story in Tuesday’s USA Today, the first artificial pancreas systems are beginning to come to market.
The artificial pancreas is a nickname given to wearable devices that take on the dual task of monitoring glucose levels as well as administering insulin. Also referred to as a “closed-loop” system because the devices do their work with no help from humans.
The first system to hit the market is the MiniMed 670G from Medtronic. Other companies have active studies underway and hope to bring their products to the marketplace later this year or in 2018. Those companies include startup Bigfoot Biomedical, Insulet, and a partnership between Dexcom, Tandem, and TypeZero.
The article states that these systems actually aren’t an option for most diabetes, many of whom have type 2 diabetes. The artificial pancreas is for the 10% of diabetes patients who have type 1 diabetes.